A blog by Dr Lin Day

About Lin

Dr Lin Day

Founder of multi-award award winning Baby Sensory, Dr Lin Day (PhD, M.Phil, PGCE, BSc, Dip Ed, SRN), is one of the UK’s leading parenting experts and a renowned author within the field of childcare and education. Lin has over 35 years of practical experience working with parents and children. Away from work, something that happens not enough if you ask husband and lifelong colleague Howard, she is a doting grandmother, obsessed with her terrier Bow, and currently enjoying a new chapter in life of setting up a second home in Northern France.

I was recently asked to try and explain why; as a father, I
regularly go to Baby Sensory with my son Reuben. I had never really considered
the ‘why’ part of it before, but I have also never really given much thought as
to why sometimes I’m the only dad there.

A lot of it has to do with luck I guess, I am fortunate enough
to work a shift pattern for the Fire & Rescue Service that gives me more
time off during the traditional working week than most. But I still have to
make the time to go there, there are always other things to do and an hour of
peace and quiet at home can seem pretty appealing at times! Like any parent I
want to make the most of the very short period of time when Reuben is so small,
is experiencing so many firsts and depends on me to help him discover new
things. I would never trade a bit of quiet time for being there the first time
he crawls, the first time his says ‘dad’ or even his first steps.

My wife and I have been taking Reuben to Baby Sensory with
Sophie in Milton Keynes for the last nine months and I probably make it to
about 70% of the classes. Why do I go? It’s pretty simple really; I enjoy the
structure and purpose to the activities, focussing on entertaining, stimulating
and developing our son with a variety of activities, rather than just letting
them roll around on the floor for an hour while the parents have a chat….The
games and songs give me ideas of how to help entertain Reuben when I am looking
after him by myself. I’m generally a confident person but I had always worried
about being solely responsible for his welfare and happiness, I think there’s a
certain element of pressure for every dad to show that they can cope without
mum being there as a safety net. Baby Sensory has helped my self-confidence in
this area no end, I like to think I know my son well, the type of things that
make him happy and how to calm him down if he gets upset.

Would I recommend for other fathers to go to Baby Sensory? Definitely! You can feel a bit of an
outsider on your first visit when parents are singing and signing along to the
‘say hello to the sun’ song but you shouldn’t let that put you off. Even if you
can only make it once in a while it’s worth it, we have got some great
memories, made some lovely friends and all three of us will miss it when Reuben
moves on to nursery.